Hand grips attached to poles for hiking, skiing, golfing, or even just for stability are used with varying degrees of comfort and utility.
One type of hand grip such as the grips on a hiking pole shown in FIG. 1 are not a desirable shape for optimum comfort. These grips include varying amounts of finger locating bumps and indentions in an effort to promote ergonomic design and comfort during use; however, they do little to secure the hand into place when the pole or stick strikes the ground and a load in the direction of the long axis of the pole is applied to the hand. Prior art ski poles, walking sticks, and canes have similar grips, and similar problems. Prior art designs require the user to tightly wrap their hand around the grip, which causes fatigue from the hand and forearm muscles being engaged. Additionally, this can be difficult when wearing the appropriate attire for the activity, e.g. ski gloves. Moreover, it is increasingly difficult to grasp these pole or cane grips when the user has conditions such as arthritis and cannot comfortably form a first around the grip. In addition to holding onto a pole grip similar to the prior art handle design in FIG. 1, prior art grips further require the user to maintain a firm squeezing force on the grip handle when the pole impacts the ground during the course of the activity. Different types of grip materials and grip surface designs can increase the coefficient of friction and help prevent the hand from slipping down the pole grip. The general equation (neglecting that the hand is not a solid body) for the force of friction equals the coefficient of friction for the two objects (hand and handle) multiplied by the force applied normal to the surface (hand squeezing force). Thus in addition to the coefficient of friction from the grip material and surface finish, the force of friction is a function of the load applied perpendicular to the grip handle surface (hand squeezing force). Any grip surfaces that can directly react the axial force will have a direct locking force. In the case of prior art, the force that locks the hand on the grip to prevent it from sliding downward is predominately the hand squeezing force and not the axial reaction force. This squeezing force causes hand and forearm fatigue which is not ideal for a number of reasons but especially when many of the activities using these grips are long duration activities on the order of hours, if not days.
In some instances, like the grip stop pictured in the prior art of FIG. 1 where the top of the pole grip aids in lifting the grip, a grip stop may be placed at the base of the handle and used to stop the hand from moving downward and relieving some of the squeezing force necessary to maintain the hand on the handle. This allows for some of the load from the pole striking the ground and carrying the users weight as an axial reaction force from the grip end stop versus relying solely on the force of friction. However, in the grip stop design, it applies the axial load through the small surface area of the pinky finger and base of the palm where it is in contact with the grip stop during the walking or skiing movement when the pole strikes the ground, making gripping uncomfortable for the user.